1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a virtual network and a virtual network connection system and more particularly to a virtual network with enhanced security using, e.g., a firewall.
2. Description of the Background Art
A firewall or similar security measure has customarily been applied to an intranet or similar private network in order to obviate illicit accesses via Internet in the event of connection of the private network to Internet. A network generally referred to as an extranet is available for connecting networks each including a respective firewall, i.e., for connecting a plurality of intranets via Internet. Typical of extranets is a VPN (Virtual Private Network) that dynamically forms a work group within a company or over a plurality of companies. More specifically, the VPN allows various applications in different intranets, which belong to the same work group, to be linked together via Internet or basic network.
To finely configure private networks organization by Organization, Web Service or similar particular service is available. However, the conventional networks do not allow organizations to communicate with each other. Moreover, the VPN system or similar extranet is expensive and prevents a virtual network from being flexibly constructed.
Technologies relating to the present invention are disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. 9-270803. 10-126440, 11-219326, 2000-125062 and 2000-132473.